RE: Monarch

Chapter 25. Crossroads VIII

I floated through the dark once more. But it was different this time. I was not immediately yanked backwards and summoned to the land of the living. In the darkness, a figure came into focus. Not a person, but a great beast. It regarded me silently, malevolence focused on my very being.

Why are you here? It asked.

I wanted to tell it that I did not know. That it was not my intent to be here, that it was beyond both my agency and my understanding.

But I had no mouth with which to speak. It turned away from me, and I was yanked through the darkness once more.

The goblet of water slipped from my hand, pinging across the floor. Lucius pulled his feet up, irritated. "What the hells, Cairn?" But Mayas hand was on my arm almost immediately.

"You are pale," she said worriedly, placing a cool hand against my forehead. Her brow knitted. "And running a fever, I think."

"Vision," I whispered.

"A bad one?" Maya asked.

"Theyre all bad. We gotta-"

But then, I stopped. The sounds of the surrounding feast slowly filtered into my awareness. We didnt actually have to go yet. The moment for panic and adrenaline had passed. This was different than with Barion. The starting period was much closer to the crisis point. I didnt have days to prepare, I had hours. I felt the gears shifting in my mind, cold wheels of pragmatism beginning to turn.

Cephur, shot in the eye.

I pushed it away.

Orben, mobbed and murdered along with his beloved horse.

I buried it.

Tamara, shot full of arrows, killed moments before performing what looked like some sort of last rite.

I let myself feel that one, just for a moment. Cool rage flowed through me like the wind of a hurricane. And then I buried that too. I looked up and surveyed the room. At a table by the corner, I saw the short man from the battle watching me. There was another behind us. Of course, Thoths people were already here. It made sense.

I couldnt afford to panic or show anything that tipped my hand. Instead, I acted normal. With a sheepish laugh, I reached down and retrieved my cup, making apologetic remarks towards the serving girl who had come to clean up the mess. I tipped her a silver and she plied me with a surprised, "Thank you, milord!"

"Of course, of course, thank you for accommodating my clumsiness." I smiled.

Lucius looked back and forth between Maya and I, looking for all intents and purposes like someone had given him whiplash.

"What the hells is happening?" Lucius whispered.

"Were still in a cage, my friend. Still in a cage." I winked at him. His eyes widened in realization. Then his face relaxed and grew smug. It wasnt perfect, there was still tension in his forehead, but it was damn close.

"And how do we rectify this situation, Prince Cairn?" Lucius asked. The way he used my title was intentional. He was deferring to me, expecting me to take the lead.

Mayas eyes darted back and forth, scanning the room. I took her chin in my hand and tilted her head towards me, the same way my older, more amorous self might have done with a blushing maiden.

"Dont panic." I said, staring into her white eyes, trying to imbue comfort, though I felt anything but comfortable. To anyone around us, it would have looked like I was laying it on thick. "We are being watched. The situation is difficult, but not unsalvageable. Now push my hand away and laugh like I just said something really awkward."

Maya pushed my hand away and giggled. "Flatterer."

Perfect. It was more than convincing. I shifted back in my seat to face Lucius. "Hypothetically speaking, how many guards in this city would you say are loyal to you?"

He cocked his head, confused. "All of them."

"No. Specifically to you. If, say, there was some sort of conflict with your father." Ill give him credit, his face didnt waver, though there were a million questions cycling behind his eyes.

Lucius thought on that. "Five. Six at most."

Not many. But better than what we had before. I leaned across the table with barely withheld enthusiasm, as if I was about to drop a particularly clever observation. Lucius leaned in towards me.

"Wait fifteen minutes to make your exit, after a few dances. Then gather them. Make sure theyre in your corner. Well need them before midnight."

"What dances?" Lucius started to ask, but I was already pivoting.

We needed a buffer, something to happen between Lucius speaking to me and leaving the hall. The serving girl was young, probably sixteen or seventeen, pretty. But I had recognized something in the way she lingered at the fringes, waiting to see if we needed anything else: Opportunism. That was ideal. With a drunken flourish, I gestured to her to come closer and whispered in her ear.

"See my young friend over there?" I asked, pointing to Lucius. He said nothing but his eyes were furious and cheeks were red. The serving girl pushed a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her ear. "Yes milord. The Dukes son."

"Of course you know him." I chuckled at myself. "But what my young friend just confessed to me is that his father has not yet hired someone to instruct him in dance."

The serving girl blinked. "Thats a crying shame, milord."

"So, you agree with me." I called over my shoulder, "She agrees with me, Lucius!" His face was tomato red. If I lived through the next day, I might have to worry about Lucius coming to murder me in my sleep.

"Whats your name, girl?"

"Millie, my lord."

"Millie, are you thinking what Im thinking?" I asked the girl conspiratorially.

We both shared a look at Lucius, then back to each other. Her eyes calculated shrewdly. "I think I might be, yeh."

"Can you dance, Millie?"

"I can, milord."

"Tell you what," I reached in my purse and retrieved another silver rod, placing it in her palm. "Dont worry about your duties. Ill take full responsibility for distracting you. If someone as beautiful as you were to teach my young friend over there to dance tonight, and made sure he had a good time, Im sure its something hell always remember."

"Two or three, you think?" Millie glanced down at her blouse.

"Elphions sake, woman, two. We dont want to give the poor boy a heart attack." I winked at her. She winked back and undid her blouse by two buttons. I liked Millie, but now, I felt a little bad for unleashing her on poor, actually-thirteen-years-old Lucius. It would provide an excellent reason for him to storm out embarrassed, however.

Millie approached Lucius with faux shyness, then took his hand, dragging him towards the dance floor.

"I assume you had a reason for doing that?" Maya asked dryly.

"Of course!" I said, "Come, dance with me."

Mayas eyes widened. She stood and took my hand with a full smile, leaning in to whisper, "If I find out you are playing with me, I will retire your liver."

I grimaced. "A terrifying threat, but no." The musicians were playing a ballad. I led her in a simple waltz, and she followed me easily, not stepping on my feet once, despite not knowing the dance. It seemed her clumsiness in the wood did not translate to other things. Across the floor from us, Lucius glowered at me, his face held tight to Millies bosom. I chuckled, despite myself.

"The man at the table behind ours. Another in the back left corner. Do you see them?" I spun her slowly and she panned the room, then pulled her back into my arms.

"Yes." Maya said.

I counted them up in my head, struggling, my memories of the battlefield chaotic and hazy. "According to the vision I just had, theres at least fourteen others, maybe fifteen. Theres also another strong magician. Air magic, I think. And Thoth is here."

Maya paled at that. "How does she know where to find you?"

"Hells if I know." I swung her around. "It gets worse." I thought to the throbbing pain in my corebetter than it was when I had recalled the flame, but still worse than when I lived through the banquet the first time. "Theres a problem with my magic." Maya started at that, nearly tripping. I caught her smoothly.

"When I tried to draw in the flamein my vision, I meanit caused me a great deal of pain. My sight doubled and something tore."

Mayas grip on my arm tightened almost painfully. "Nilend. You are describing soul damage. Are you feeling pain now?"

"A bit, yes."

"Why did you not tell me sooner?"

"I didnt recognize it for what it was until after what I saw."

"Promise me that you will not use it again." Maya said vehemently, entirely focused on me now.

" I cant, Maya. Not with everything thats coming."

"You could die," Maya stepped closer to me. I lost myself in her imploring eyes for a moment.

It was strange how much my perspective had shifted from a normal persons. I feared death, yes. But I had also come to accept it. Death was inevitable. But for everyone else, it was the hard stop. There was no coming back. I shook off the thought, not letting myself think about Tamara and Cephur again.

"Fine, I promise. How do we fix it?" I asked grimly.

"There is no quick fix. Damage to the soul is not some simple thing that can be treated with a potion or healed by a life mage," Maya shook her head. "The Enclave can help you, if they agree to your proposition. Some of your human institutions might be able to assist, but I do not know of them. I only know the enclave."

If the infernals did decide to help me, that would mean starting my time with them even further in their debt. Not great. But that was a long-term problem, I needed to deal with more immediate issues.

Cephur had left his table with Tamara and was approaching us. Somehow, even in the middle of a banquet, he knew something was off. The mans instincts were uncanny.

"Can you pass on the word to Cephur?" I said quietly. "Let him know the general situation. That my magic is sidelined. Well regroup at the Dukes house at midnight."

The music picked up.

Cephur reached us and was about to open his mouth when I spun Maya and released her, sending her spinning into his surprised arms.

"Uh," Cephur said.

"Teach Maya this dance, would you?" I flashed him a smile. "The faster ones were never really my thing."

I left them and headed towards where Tamara drank alone at her table. In the upcoming sequence of events, she had the biggest role by far.

I idled in an alley, several streets down from where Id first heard the exchange between the Duke and Thoth. I fiddled with the two copper rods in my pocket, trying not to think of what I intended to use them for.

Everything had gone smoothly up to this point. With the guards Lucius provided, the coup went quickly and easily, but this was a small town, so that was to be expected. Duke Desiric was held hostage in his quarters, clearly unhappy with the series of events, but transferred command of the town guard to Lucius, and by extension, us. We kept it relatively small. The guards involved were instructed to stick to their usual duties, then meet us at the gate at the chosen time, a little after four in the morning.

Only, it had been an hour and a half now. My teeth chattered from the breezy chill in the air.

There were two different ways this could go:

If Thoth came out first, it was the worst outcome. Less likely but entirely possible as shed shown herself as completely unpredictable, time after time. If that happened, wed cut our losses and evacuate, heading back towards the Everwood.

If the thin man came out firstsent by Thoth to look into the Dukes absence from the meetingthen it was game on. There was no winning against Thoth. But the upside was, Thoth seemed to be taking a hands-off approach. She hadnt shown up at the ambush point, the spindly man had. If we could isolate her from her allies and make the whole thing seem like more trouble than it was worth, maybe that would be enough to dissuade her, at least for the moment.

The unfortunate fact was, if we did it right, no one was coming out of this clean. I hadnt forgotten the way all three of the rangers had looked at me, their eyes troubled and uncomfortable. Thankfully, Maya had been there to vouch for the veracity of my visions, citing the encounter with Barion, so they didnt think me mad, just

What? Dishonorable? Monstrous?

I didnt know. That was okay. They hadnt seen what I had seen. This had to be done.

But so far, neither of them had moved. They were both still in the house, and I was freezing my ass off in an alley.

Sharp and crisp, the call of a night lark echoed from somewhere far away.

Finally. That was the signal.

I took in several deep breaths, centering myself, then stepped out into the open.

The spindly man stopped in his tracks. I took off my hood. We stood across from each other, maybe fifteen feet apart, only the moon illuminating our presence. I was careful not to make any sudden movement, anything that would spook him.

Then, I spoke the words that would both ensure victory and forsake honor.

"This is a bit unfair, but Ive lived this life before."

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